K. V Desikachar, Although object’ can be a thing, it can also be anything’ that the mind engages, including the furthest reaches of art, scientific knowledge, the cosmos, or, ultimately, God. Prasarita Padottanasana Pose Yoga The Yoga Sutras are divided into four sections or chapters and, as in the four Gospels of the New Testament, are believed to be representations of the sage’s teachings to four disciples, each at a different stage of Yogic development. Prasarita Padottanasana Pose Yoga The first chapter, called Samadhi-pada, or the chapter on samadhi, lays out the framework of yoga, its characteristics, the problems that will be encountered along the path, and how to deal with them, as well as the state of mind that results.
Patanjali also tells us here that unbounded clarity and limitless intelligence, fulfilled as serenity and purity of action, are the true gifts of yoga. In this crucial first chapter, Patanjali defines the mind as the activities that constitute it, and explains that all our perceptions of mind can only be in terms of five activities, which can be both problematic and beneficial. These five activities are: comprehension, misapprehension, imagination, deep sleep, and memory. He then offers some guidance about how to achieve a state of yoga, which he says can occur through practice and detachment.
